Taken by the Darkness
by Dark Maiden95
Summary: Slightly edited. Takes place during Reverse/Rebirth in CoM. After Riku defeats the Darkside at Destiny Islands, Zexion realizes that Riku may still be of some use to the Organization and kidnaps him instead of disguising himself as Sora. Rated for safety.


Made some minor edits. Hopefully it's a little better!

I do not own Kingdom Hearts and I'm not trying to copy any other story.

Enjoy!

**Taken by the Darkness**

Riku landed on the illusionary sand that carpeted the ground of the Destiny Islands produced from his memory, sore all over and completely out of breath. The wind howled all around him, whipping around his long, silver hair. The Darkside creature had been much tougher that he had expected. One blow from its giant fist had sent him to the ground and nearly rendered him unconscious. That wasn't the only thing that had him worried. Before the battle, all of his friends on the islands had vanished. Sora, Kairi, Wakka, Selphie, and Tidus – all gone. The words spoken by the latest Nobody Riku had encountered in Castle Oblivion, Zexion, rang through his mind endlessly like a broken record.

"_It's all because of you that they disappeared,"_ Zexion had told him in a cruel tone. _"You cast them aside for the power of darkness!"_

_No. He's wrong. I cast the darkness aside too!_ Riku thought. _He must be trying to trick me into falling into self-pity! _But deep down, he wasn't so sure. Maybe Zexion was right.

"Impressive," a voice from behind Riku echoed through the artificial night sky. Riku spun around to find Zexion standing there, his long steel-blue bangs covering his left eye. Riku tensed, ready to fight to the death if necessary.

"I had expected you to become consumed in self-pity, not caring if that creature destroyed you or not," Zexion said, his expression difficult to read. He seemed to be deep in thought, yet smug. "But it seems you overcame my trap."

"Your trap?" Riku demanded, anger building up. "You mean this was a trap all along?"

Zexion nodded. "You see, we became aware of traitorous intentions in the higher levels of Castle Oblivion, and we planned on using you to rid us of our traitors. But once Sora destroyed Marluxia, I thought you were of no more use. I was hoping the Darkside creature would save me the trouble of destroying you. But seeing you battle the creature and defeat it with such power proves of much use to the Organization."

"Organization?" Now Riku was confused and angry. "So, what? Do you belong to some kind of evil group?"

"I wouldn't say evil," Zexion replied. "Perhaps you should see for yourself." With that, he began to approach Riku, but stopped in his tracks when Riku raised Soul Eater. "What's this? You'd rather battle me? Very well." With a white flash, a large book appeared in Zexion's hand. Just as quickly as it appeared though, it was replaced by dozens of stray pages that vanished in an instant. Zexion raised one arm in the air and a giant cyclone materialized in the air.

"W-what _is_ this?!" Riku cried as he tried to escape the strong winds of the cyclone. But it was no use. He could feel his memories vanishing as he was pulled in closer to the cyclone. He had to do something, and fast.

Zexion smirked as he watched Riku's futile struggle against the cyclone's pull. He could practically see Riku's memories disappear into it. Soon, Riku would forget how to attack completely and become an easy prey. But Zexion was caught off-guard when out of nowhere, Riku lunged at him with the Soul Eater, striking him in the chest. Zexion quickly recovered though, which sent a wave of fear through Riku.

"No matter," Zexion said calmly. "It looks like I have enough."

Riku was about to demand what Zexion had enough of, but Zexion's body now had a subtle white glow and in his hand was the Soul Eater. If that wasn't enough, Riku quickly found out that he was surrounded by five clones of Zexion, all with Soul Eaters of their own. The six Zexions all lunged at Riku simultaneously, but Riku threw himself at one, hitting his head with his Soul Eater and catapulting over him. No sooner had he landed though, that the five clones spread out again. Or maybe four clones and the real thing. Riku couldn't tell for sure. The one that had remained in his position raised his arm, and Riku found himself being struck five consecutive times with a Soul Eater by Zexion's clones. Riku fell to his knees, injured, but not ready to give up. He couldn't let Zexion win. When a clone approached to deliver the final blow, Riku suddenly shot to his feet like a rocket and struck him, causing the clone to shriek in pain and dissolve into blackness. With a threatening look on his face, Riku looked at his five remaining opponents, ready to take each down. Zexion raised his arm, causing three more stray pages to shoot up and vanish. The four clones vanished in a white flash as the real Zexion headed straight for Riku. Riku leapt back just in time to dodge and strike Zexion with the Soul Eater. Zexion tried to deliver blows of his own, but Riku skillfully dodged them all. When Zexion tried again, Riku leapt into the air and struck Zexion multiple times before the Cloaked Schemer finally dodged. Riku didn't let it show, but he was scared. He was getting exhausted and Zexion didn't seem to show any signs of slowing down. Riku lunged at Zexion to attack again, but this time, Zexion struck Riku first, very hard in the chest. Riku flew back a short distance and landed on his back, gasping for air. Zexion had knocked the wind out of him. Riku clutched his chest and tried to sit up, but that just made it more painful and more difficult to breathe. Zexion dismissed the false Soul Eater and walked towards Riku, no emotion in his face.

Riku finally managed to fill his lungs with precious air and sat up, still in too much pain to stand. He could only glare as Zexion continued his approach.

"What a shame," Zexion said, shaking his head. "If you had simply opened your heart to the darkness, none of this would have been necessary.

"How many times do I have to say it?" Riku cried angrily as he tried to stand up, but fell to his knees. A line of blood soaked his chest, turing his yellow shirt red. "Darkness is my enemy!" Riku's voice was strained, but angry. "I won't rest until I rid myself of every last bit of it!"

Zexion shook his head. "I didn't want to force you, Riku, but you leave me no choice." As soon as he was done talking, Zexion vanished into thin air, seeming to blow in the wind until he was completely invisible, and the land around him seemed to swirl and melt. Riku sunk lower as he began to feel dizzy. The atmosphere seemed to spin. Nothing was clear. Riku clutched his head and fell back to the ground, feeling incredibly nauseous. Riku closed his eyes, hoping to get the dizziness to go away and to calm his throbbing stomach. But nothing helped. Riku couldn't shake the nausea and the illusion was beginning to take its toll on him. Drowsiness set in too. Riku stared at the illusion around him, hypnotized. As he felt sleep taking over him, he stretched out his arm and barely managed to mutter the words that could save him.

Still invisible, Zexion smirked as he watched Riku lie miserably on the ground, reassured that the illusion was doing its job wonderfully. Hypnotizing Riku into falling asleep would make his job much easier when the trance set in and he was out cold. He was not at all concerned when he saw the teen stretch his arm out weakly until he heard him mutter two words:

_"Dark Firaga."_

No sooner had the words escaped his mouth and sleep nearly taken hold of him, Riku heard a cry of pain and looked up, brought out of his trance. The illusion was gone, as were the nausea and drowsiness. Riku stood up and saw Zexion clutching his chest, burned by Riku's attack. He couldn't believe it. Had Dark Firaga actually hit its mark? It didn't matter. Riku summoned Soul Eater again, preparing to attack. He got a little scared when Zexion shot him a small smirk.

"You used an attack from the dark," he said in a voice that sent chills down Riku's spine. Zexion stood upright as the pain subsided. "After all your protests, you're still just like us, on the side of darkness."

"I already told you! Darkness is my enemy!" Riku shouted. He was really getting sick of people telling him to accept the darkness. He charged and leapt at Zexion for one final attack, but Zexion simply smirked and vanished into a few black waves. Riku looked around desperately, not knowing if Zexion had surrendered or was preparing to kill him. But he didn't have much time to dwell on this. After a moment, Riku's search was interrupted. A hand grabbed his wrist and pinned his arm behind his back, while an arm draped in black wrapped itself around his chest, locking his free arm to his side. Riku felt his heart drop and his fear skyrocket when Soul Eater vanished, all on its own.

"Let me go!" Riku shouted as he struggled against his attacker's strong grip. But his efforts were of no use. Zexion held strong and leaned close to Riku's ear.

"I told you before, Riku. You have no choice. You WILL accept the darkness." Zexion's voice was soft and menacing. Chills plummeted down Riku's spine.

"No! I said no! I'll never open my heart to the darkness!" Riku continued to struggle as he shouted at Zexion, but before he could protest anymore, Riku felt the arm pinning his his arm behind his back wrap around him as a gloved hand clasp itself firmly over his mouth, silencing him.

"Hush now," Zexion said in Riku's ear. Although his voice was soft, it was frightening. Riku couldn't help but shudder. Zexion looked up with a triumphant smirk. "The time draws near."

Riku gasped quietly behind Zexion's hand, now realizing what was happening and how serious the situation was. He had to put a stop to it fast, and began struggling, even harder than before. This time, Zexion was unprepared for the struggling, and Riku managed to wriggle out of his grasp. Filled with hope, Riku ran awa from Zexion, hoping to gain enough distance to attack or escape. But his hopes were instantly shattered when he felt Zexion's fingers coiled firmly around his wrist, yanking him back. Before Riku had time to process what was happening, Zexion delivered a swift blow to the back of Riku's head. Riku's body fell limp as he lost consciousness, but Zexion caught him and held the teen in both arms as he walked through the Corridor of Darkness.

~.~.~.~.~

Riku opened his eyes sometime later. He realized he must have been unconscious because he didn't remember Zexion bringing him to this place. It was dark and a little cold, as well as quite empty. Riku tried to push himself up, but he heard chains rattling behind him and his hands wouldn't move from his side. Riku looked down and saw that his wrists were locked in shackles and chained a short distance from the wall. There was a pale blue cloth over his mouth as well. Riku sat there stunned and scared as he realized the terrifying truth: he had just been kidnapped. He looked around after a moment, wondering where Zexion was. Was he just going to leave Riku here? Could he possibly be hunting down Sora or King Mickey? Riku couldn't stand either possibility and began to struggle against the chains. A menacing chuckle made him pause and look up as Zexion appeared in front of his captive. Riku was terrified, but tried to look threatening, which wasn't easy to do, considering he was chained to the wall and gagged.

"I have informed my Superior of your abilities," he said as he walked towards Riku. The teen wanted nothing more than to break free and wipe that smirk off Zexion's face. "He wishes to meet you for himself." Zexion knelt down and grabbed Riku's arm. The evil smirk on Zexion's face brought pure fear to Riku's face. "And don't count on your king coming to save you," Zexion warned, his smirk growing more triumphant and frightening. "He can't possibly save you from the darkness, no matter what he has told you." Zexion leaned in towards Riku's ear again. "Once you accept the darkness, you can never be saved." Riku's eyes grew a little wider with fear as he and his captor were swallowed by blackness once again.

* * *

That's it! Sorry if I got the personalities wrong and if the battle was bad. Please review!


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